Escape from Amarna
by FirstOne
Summary: Tjel is accused of murdering his queen while he was trying to save her. He must escape The city of Amarna and find thr proof he needs to survive. But can he do it while being hunted by assins and the elite gaurd? Ancient Egypt themed.


Escape from Amarna

Torch light and shadows danced to gather along the palace walls, swaying back and forth across the sand granite pillars and elaborate murals. I stood as sentry to the Queen's royal quarters. As I looked up above the atrium, I saw the moon had risen above the market of Amarna and my watch was finished. The next guard soon came to relieve me. As I walked along the hall, back to the guard quarters I looked out a window to admire the view of Amarna, capital of the Egyptian empire and the Pharaoh Akhenaton's seat of power. He ruled over the empire with an iron fist, and beside him was his queen Nefertiti. The silence and tranquility of the cool night air was shattered with a scream. It came from the queen's quarters.

I picked up my ax and ran back to the queen's chambers. The colorful tiled floor was red with fast pooling blood. The guard's body laid face-down, the back of his head smashed in. I ran past the body and through the open doors to find the queen with a knife attempting to fend off two attackers. She moved like a lioness, her flowing strikes like lightning. I rushed in to help, my ax raised high above my head. One of the queen's assailants turned his attention to me. His face was covered with black cloth and a black cloak covered his body. He raised a knife of his own and charged at me. I parried his attacks with my ax and lunged at him. My ax cut through his cloak like a sharp scythe through papyrus. He screamed as my blade met his flesh. A fountain of blood came forth from his ruptured chest as I pulled my ax away.

I turned my attention to the second assassin. The queen had slashed his throat and face, but it was not enough to kill him. Before I could react he stabbed her in the ribs, once, twice, three times. Her scream echoed throughout the palace, bringing the guards running. I lunged at the assassin, knocking him to the ground. His knife clattered across the tiles as I slammed his head against the ground again and again. His skull shattered with a sickening crunch and as I lifted it up to smash it again, his blood and brain began to ooze out. I stood up with my ax in hand, raised it above my head, and swung. I swung and swung and swung my ax, until the body was nothing but a mangled pulp. It was only then when I looked up and surveyed the room. The silk curtains were torn and bloody, as were the bed sheets. The beautiful tiled mosaic floor was broken and cracked. Blood was everywhere. The two bodies of the assassins lay on the floor, blood pooling from them and the queen's body. The queen! I bent down to see if she was alive, but her skin was already cold and loosing color. She was dead, and I had failed in my duty as her bodyguard. I began to lament, but before I could pray for her safe passage into the after life, a great pain surged through my head, and every thing went dark.

A cool wind woke me, as I hung shackled to a damp stone wall. I realized the room was the palace dungeons. What was I doing here? My throbbing head was not making it easy to think. "So Tjel, you thought that you might gain from the murder of our Pharaoh and his Queen? You shall be tormented eternally in the after life and this life for your crime!"

I recognized the voice as Forrente, the master of prisoners and condemned. "Forrente, what are you talking about? I tried to save the queen! Did you not see the bodies?"

"Oh, we saw the bodies, the bodies of your accomplices and our queen!"

"I killed those men as is my duty as bodyguard of the Pharaoh and Queen, I was not aiding them in their assassination attempt!"

"I think you let them kill the queen, and then turned on them in an attempt to make yourself to look like a hero, well if it is not obvious to you yet, then I shall make it clear. You failed!"

"I did no such thing! The notion of it makes me sick!"

"I am sure it does, we shall see what the judges have to say about it."

And with that, he turned and left the dungeons. I was alone with my thoughts and my prayers. My head was still throbbing, but the pain was easing. As my head began to clear slightly, so did my mind. The events that had transpired thus far played out in my mind, the screaming from the royal chambers, the struggle with the assassins, and the queen's murder. Now I was too blamed for the crimes of another.

I thought about what Forrente had said, "…..gain from the murder of the Pharaoh and his queen…..you shall suffer in the after life and in this one for your crime…" That meant that Pharaoh Akhenaton was dead too! Akhenaton had many enemies, rivals to the empire were many. Rivals and enemies within the empire were many as well. It could have been any one, but I would most likely never have to chance to make my case. In my past experiences, those accused of high crimes such as murder were often executed without a fair trial. I would most likely share the same fate of so many I had seen thrown to hungry crocodiles by the Nile.


End file.
